Community wishes vs. developers' wants : ePlanning as an instrument of the neo-liberal planning reforms in NSW Australia

Planning reforms in NSW Australia have gathered pace. These reforms are being enacted to achieve economic efficiency through: uniformity in the planning system across jurisdictions, simplicity and speed for the developers, delivery through electronic systems (ePlanning), development assessment by independent panels and private certifiers and flexibility via voluntary mechanisms. These reforms have been declared necessary because they are taking place internationally and in other parts of Australia. Contrarily, some sections of the society feel that the reforms are a power grab by the state government or that they are an outcome of the strong influence of the development lobby. Some planning scholars have argued that these planning reforms are an inevitable outcome of the ascendance of Neo-liberal economic order of the past two to three decades. In general, community and environmental organizations are strongly opposed to these reforms. This paper analyzes the motivations behind the uptake of computer technology in NSW planning system, and the association of that technology with the broader reform agenda. Attitudes and implications of these technological changes are reviewed. The paper also casts a critical look over the selectiveness of the computer tools chosen by state authorities who are eager to use facilitating, speeding up, efficiency enhancing, automation type of computer tools for mostly day to day planning. They are not very keen at using the collaborative policy making tools that can be used for developing, discussing, visualizing and choosing alternatives.